ZU flays UNC over Lui-Ngai-Ni
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, January 30 2014:
The celebration of this year's Lui-Ngai-Ni festival at Tamenglong district headquarters under the auspices of United Naga Council (UNC) is likely to be a stormy affair with Zeliangrong Union (ZU) opposing it and coming out strongly against the alleged misconduct of UNC.
An emergency meeting of the Central Executive of Zeliangrong Union (Assam, Manipur & Nagaland) has also endorsed the decision already adopted at the public consultative meeting of ZU Tamenglong Zone held on January 16 in which it was resolved that Naga seed sowing festival, Lui-Ngai-Ni shall not be celebrated at Tamenglong disrict headquarters as proper intimation /acknowledgement has not been received for necessary arrangements and no social organisations other than ZU should take the responsibility of hosting the festival in case of Tamenglong district.
Announcing this in a statement, General Secretary of ZU (AMN) K Poushinglung pointed out that the upcoming Lui-Ngai-Ni is supposed to be celebrated at Longmai (Noney) village and the request for venue was accepted by Longmai Village Authority, Pei and surrounding villages, but the venue has been shifted first to Changdai village and then to Raianglong, Tamenglong district headquarters without giving any intimation and reason.
This is a humiliation to the Longmai village as well as to the people of Zeliangrong people as a whole.
Usually, Lui-Ngai-Ni celebration is organised under the sponsorship of UNC.
But this time, it is going to be organised by a few vested interested Zeliangrong leaders hailing from Baudi, student and youth community who professed themselves as leaders of Zeliangrong but hankering after popularity and wealth at the expense of the people, Poushinglung alleged, while asking UNC whether there had been any official sanction or authorisation given to 'those irresponsible leaders' to organise the festival in Zeliangrong area particularly in Tamenglong district.
Such irresponsible act is condemned by ZU (AMN) and Zeliangrong people, Poushinglung said, and added that ZU (AMN) is totally against the attitude of some UNC officials who are trying to drive wedge among the Zeliangrong leaders/people on the pretext of common issues of Manipur Nagas.
Tamenglong district is not the playfield of UNC and so it should not impose irrelevant and unreasonable directives to Nagas of Tamenglong district and the Zeliangrong people in particularly to create disunity as well as giving wrong impression to others.
It is a firm decision of ZU (AMN) and Zeliangrong people that Lui-Ngai-Ni, the Mega festival of Naga people of Manipur should not be celebrated in Tamenglong district till UNC realized its misconduct perpetrated towards ZU (AMN) since many years", Poushinglung stated categorically.